The room's lighting dimmed slightly accentuating the brightness of the soft lights behind the camera.
The staffer signaled the broadcast was about to begin in several seconds.
Though... this wasn't completely necessary as there was a large analog clock on the back wall. The second hand's satisfying ticks could be heard through the whole room.
But the staffer signaled anyway.
The Emperor looked at his family one last time to make sure all of their appearances were on point. When he looked at Jisha, though, he paused for a moment as if to say "it's a miracle"...
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
*... And we're live.*
"Good morning, family of Slyker!"
Father's deep booming voice was perfect enough to make sports commentators and e-sports casters jealous.
He addressed the nation as a family - this was something that had never changed for the entirety of modern history.
"I hope you brothers, sisters, and children had a good night's rest," Mother chimed in.
As the morning greetings were said one at a time in descending order of seniority, it was now Jisha's turn to say something.
*I don't know what's appropriate for today. I hope this works?*
"Let's all have fun in the sun this summer!"
"..."
*Eh? Come on, all that talk about summer and now you guys look at me strangely?*
Though Jisha's comment seemed to have caused a minor hiccup in the flow of things, the family quickly recovered.
"I wish everyone a productive day," Niyo said.
"Let's all have fun in the sun this summer!"
*What?*
Nina straight-up copied her elder sister's words.
Jisha realized why her comment was received strangely.
*... Was that Nina's line? What? How was I supposed to know?*
What were the odds she stole Nina's line word-for-word without even knowing what it was?
Though it was a slight mistake, the broadcast continued as normal.
Every morning, if there was important news, Father would let the citizens know. However, today was an ordinary day.
*Haah, it really looks like nothing special has happened recently.*
Jisha was hoping to get some information out of this session, but unfortunately, Father only had some more useless pleasantries to dish out.
After about a minute of talking, it was time to move on to the next phase of the broadcast.
This part was the kids' favorite. Even Niyo, who pretended to be uptight about everything, let himself relax at this time.
It was breakfast!
Yes, their breakfast was broadcast to the entire nation.
The philosophy of Slyker was that a strong family would be the most united in times of turmoil. And what better way was there to unite a family than a hearty meal together?
This was the time most citizens and their families also ate breakfast.
Some would leave the broadcast on in the background. Some would mute the sound. And those who weren't fond of this tradition didn't have a screen in the same room as their meal table.
Breakfast was a truly relaxing time for the royal Slyker family. As long as no politics or national secrets were discussed, they could chat with each other to their heart's content.
They believed this was another way to strengthen bonds - though they were the rulers of the nation, they wanted to show their citizens that they were an ordinary family as well.
Once Father finished speaking, the five members of the royal family stood up simultaneously and headed towards a nearby breakfast table that was in the process of being prepared.
This breakfast table was circular, and five chairs were prepared with portions relative to their appetites.
Breakfast this morning was some of the kids' favorites - pancakes, whipped cream, and fruit jam of various varieties.
This breakfast was a bit lavish, but it wasn't ostentatious. They still had to show that they were a royal family, after all. They couldn't be *too* ordinary with their meal selection.
The pancakes had swirls though the centers as though they were artistically stylized. The piles of whipped cream were also topped with fruit that was laid out in a deliberate pattern.
The five Slykers sat down, and the soft lights were shut off in favor of the room's normal lighting once again. The camera, which was held up by tethers along the walls, captured a clean bird's-eye view of the table.
Once they were situated, they closed their eyes, held hands, and prepared to say grace.
Every morning, the script would be slightly different, so Jisha had no choice but to wing it today...
"O Goddess, bless this food. May everyone in the family have enough to eat this morning. Amen."
*Good, it was a short one!*
Jisha didn't have to fret any longer about any scripted events she wasn't prepared for. Now, it was simply time to eat.
Nina was the first one to get her hands on the food. She immediately stuffed some of a pancake in her mouth getting whipped cream all over her cheeks in the process.
"Nina dear, careful!"
She immediately received a scolding. Mother quickly took a cloth napkin and cleaned Nina's face.
"If you make a mess, clean up after yourself. The less of a mess you make, the less you have to clean afterwards. Understand?"
Nina looked a bit crestfallen, but she nodded.
"Good," Mother said as she relaxed and used her utensils to take a small bite of pancake topped with fruit.
This scolding wasn't about etiquette, but rather about cleanliness.
Of course, during a formal dinner party with upper-class citizens, etiquette was of utmost importance. However, a livestream was much more lax. The kids could get away with a bit more than they could if they were physically in front of others.
Niyo, on the other hand, was trying his best to look his best even while eating a "casual" breakfast. He neatly cut his pancake into equal bite-sized portions and topped each one with the same amount of whipped cream and fruit every time before he placed it in his mouth.
Seeing this, Jisha was a bit flummoxed.
*Was he seriously this much of a perfectionist? ... It honestly goes beyond perfectionism and into obsession.*
There was no way it was a healthy mindset.
Even Father was consuming one entire pancake per bite. It wasn't "regal" at all.
Jisha brushed it off and turned towards her own platter which was still untouched.
Though they were as thin as several sheets of paper, each pancake was almost the size of her face.
She looked back over at Father who had already eaten at least 5 pancakes at this point.
*... Real big guy, huh?*
"Jisha, please eat. I hope you recognize your growth has been a bit stunted because you haven't been eating properly?"
When Father noticed Jisha hadn't touched her food at all, he spoke to her in a concerned tone.
"Jin, it's useless. She won't eat no matter how much we tell her. I feel like we're wasting our words at this point," Mother exasperatedly sighed.
"Nisha, it's not like we're force-feeding her. If we can't even tell her to eat, what kind of parents would we be?"
As her parents discussed her physical health, Niyo looked like he was about to break his silverware out of anger.
"Father, Mother, what about me? Look how much I'm eating!"
"Hm... Yes, your appetite is growing indeed. But this isn't a contest, Niyo. As long as you're properly getting your nutrition, you won't make us worry," Mother said as she smiled at Niyo.
This seemed to placate him. Niyo's temper waned and he continued to meticulously place bite-sized portions into his mouth.
Meanwhile, Jisha was playing with her silverware.
*Well, it looks like this is one thing that hasn't changed."
These metal chopsticks that were slightly sharp on one end seemed to be eternal. It was nice to see a familiar item even if it was a trivial one.
The sharp end was sharp enough to tear through soft foods like pancakes but wasn't nearly sharp enough to make incisions on the skin. They were the most convenient utensil!
"Elder Sister, stop playing with your chopsticks. You should take Father's advice and start eating before the pancakes get cold and soggy."
Jisha turned to stare at Niyo.
*Why's he so bent on targeting me at every moment? Is he really that jealous?*
It was true the attention Jisha got from her parents was... a bit different than the attention they gave Niyo, but she found it hard to believe that it was the cause of so much of his temper.
Jisha shrugged and decided she would look into it later. She simply responded, "Okay," and started slicing her pancakes with the metal stick.
One of Jisha's goals in this life was to increase her physical strength. If she didn't eat properly, achieving this goal would become much harder.
When she began eating, Father nodded approvingly and Mother's eyes softened.
*Even something as simple as this gets their attention? What the heck was I doing back then?*
At this point, it wasn't a mystery that Mother and Father had extremely low standards for their eldest daughter. Jisha didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this situation. The only thing she could do at this moment was continue eating.
The more she ate, the more she drew the gazes of her other family members.
And when she was the first of the three kids to finish eating, everyone was staring at her.
*... Why.*
Jisha still wasn't used to receiving these gazes for completing extremely menial tasks. She really wanted to yell at her past self and demand answers for how she'd reduced her parents' standards to below ground level.
"Jisha... did something happen?" Mother concernedly asked.
*Oh my god...*
She really didn't want to deal with this. As she was considering how to escape this situation, it was as if the Goddess truly heard her call.
A *splat* sound could be heard from Nina's seat.
"... NINA SLYKER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Seeing what she'd just done, Mother burst into an outrage.
From who knows where, Nina managed to grab hold of an entire plate of whipped cream and smashed her face into it.
"Hee hee ...."
She'd undoubtedly seen an opportunity to do this as soon as everyone was looking away, and it was obvious she was enjoying it. Whipped cream was Nina's favorite food, and an entire plate of it was simply heaven. She didn't even hear Mother's outburst.
Only when the plate was forcibly taken from her did she realize she'd been caught.
Now, all of the family's gazes were directed at her.
Nina looked around with clueless eyes and a white face. When she realized everyone was staring at her, she burst into tears.
Father and Mother worked as quickly as possible to clean her face from whipped cream and tears.
Niyo just gave a quiet "hmph" as he finished the last of his meal.
Jisha smiled bitterly as she watched her baby sister's antics.
And with that, the 30 minutes of the daily morning broadcast drew to a close.
Comments
Post a Comment